Title: The Lovely RecklessAuthor: Kami GarciaDate Read: December 27Format: Hardcover from local library

Seventeen-year-old Frankie Devereux would do anything to forget the past. Haunted by the memory of her boyfriend’s death, she lives her life by one dangerous rule: Nothing matters. At least, that’s what Frankie tells herself after a reckless mistake forces her to leave her privileged life in the Heights to move in with her dad—an undercover cop. She transfers to a public high school in the Downs, where fistfights don’t faze anyone and illegal street racing is more popular than football.

Marco Leone is the fastest street racer in the Downs. Tough, sexy, and hypnotic, he makes it impossible for Frankie to ignore him—and how he makes her feel. But the risks Marco takes for his family could have devastating consequences for them both. When Frankie discovers his secret, she has to make a choice. Will she let the pain of the past determine her future? Or will she risk what little she has left to follow her heart?

When I first heard about this book, I wasn’t too sure that I was going to like it. It really didn’t sound like something up my alley. But then someone described it as a Fast and Furious for the YA set, I figured that I should give it a go. When I started it, two days after Christmas, I was instantly drawn in. I’m used to characters like Frankie who are acting out – it’s a hazard of the YA genre, unfortunately – but it had been a while since I read a book like this one. Good girl goes off the rails because something bad has happened to her and her parents try to right the ship. In this case, Frankie gets sent to live with her dad, who’s an undercover cop, and is sent to a public school. There she meets Marco and Cruz who in their own way help her through her hard time.

When Frankie first sees Marco I thought for sure that this was going to be another case of ‘instalove.’ But when she talks back to him and gives him so much crap, I was laughing my butt off. It got to the point where I was so excited to see Marco show up, just to see their exchanges. But not to be outdone, Frankie’s relationships with her best friend and Cruz were actually something to be admired. It went to show that even though she was interested in Marco she also cared about her friends.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. I liked this book a lot. It was a fast read with very interesting characters and a unexpected twist. My only complaint – and the reason The Lovely Reckless isn’t getting 5 stars – is that the ending was a little bit lackluster. It was a typical storybook ending, that I wished would have been a little bit more…well, more.